Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(Haggai 1:1-8; Luke 9:7-9)
Many Christians today ask themselves Herod’s question of
today’s gospel. “’Who then is this about
whom I hear such things?’” the king asks.
We today want to know if Jesus is God incarnate as the Church has
claimed for two thousand years. Or is he
just a man – a very good and wise man, to be sure – worth our attention but not
our allegiance until death?
The passage says that Herod keeps trying to see
Jesus. They finally meet at the end of
the gospel. Pilate sends Jesus to him to
ascertain his guilt. As much as Herod would like to kill Jesus (Luke 13:31), he
cannot find him culpable of a crime. In
Luke’s gospel any half-objective person who sees Jesus has to admit that he is
more than innocent. He is holy. Pilate knows this too but cedes to the will
of the Jews demanding his crucifixion.
Herod seems to prefer Pilate’s friendship to the truth as he does not
object to the prefect’s judgment.
We too then have to decide about Jesus. Shall we commit ourselves to him
forever? Or will we, like Herod, prefer more
advantageous friends and convenient “truths”? To be sure, we take on faith that
Jesus has risen, ascended, and has sent his Holy Spirit. Evidence for these truths is very remote and to
an extent circumstantial. We believe
because he has enlightened our minds to see the truth of his doctrine. Even more, he has moved our hearts to give of
ourselves in love as he did.
